Dry bulk looks like it has finally bottomed out this week, but owners have been slow to follow up with tonnage acquisitions. Tanker fortunes remain in the doldrums with limited appetite among buyers while a solidifying chartering scene has seen containership acquisitions pick up.
Allied Shipbroking, Intermodal and Lorentzen & Stemoco all confirmed that the 2008-Japanese built 75,000 dwt panamax bulker Santa Rosalia has been sold by Japanese owner Sumitomo Corp to Greek owner Erasmus for $10.8m.
Several shipbroking houses reported that Japanese owner Doun Kisen sold its 2016-built 61,300 dwt ultramax bulker Ocean Jorf while Advanced Shipping & Trading identified the buyer as Greek owner Dionyssios Vassilatos-led Vita Management.
Many shipbroking houses reported the sale of the 2010-built 57,000 dwt supramax bulker Xenofon XL. The Chinese-built vessel was sold by Technomar Shipping to Chinese buyers for $7.45m.
“On the tankers side, little has changed in terms of volume of transactions being noted during the past week or so. It seems that we have already entered a sluggish period in terms of buying appetite. Moreover to this, given the considerable pressure being noted in terms of earnings as of late, this mediocre appetite may well be sustained in the near term,” Allied Shipbroking noted.
Multiple shipbroking houses reported the sale of the 2010-built 50,000 dwt MR tanker Maersk Murotsu by Japanese owner Fuyo Kaiun while Allied Shipbroking identified the buyer as Irish owner Ardmore Shipping. The vessel has fetched a price of around $16.6m.
Lorentzen & Stemoco and Banchero Costa both reported the sale of the 2006-built 106,000 dwt aframax tanker Umlma. The South Korean built vessel was sold by Qatari owner Milaha to undisclosed interests for $14.9m. According to Banchero Costa, the price represents a new lower benchmark for this size/age.
In the containership sale and purchase market, the 2007-built 2,872 teu containership Arica was sold in an auction led by the ship’s creditors. The vessel was acquired by Robin 4 Shipping for $6.5m, lower than VesselsValue’s valuation of $7.2m. The ship was owned by German owner NSC Holdings. It was arrested in the US by creditors and since then many more creditors joined the lawsuit against the ship’s owner. The ship was ordered to be sold in June by a court.
